The term “ticket” as used herein, generally refers to a voucher which authorizes a user to use a service, or access a place or an event. The ticket may be a travel pass, a flight ticket, a concert pass, a car parking ticket, a movie ticket, etc. An electronic ticket (e-ticket) is a ticket which is in electronic form and is stored in an electronic storage medium, such as in a mobile communication device of the user. Generally, a user has to carry a photo identification proof along with the e-ticket to prove to a ticket inspector that the user is the owner of the e-ticket. However, carrying a photo identification proof is cumbersome, and the user may fail to prove their identity, if they forget to carry the identification proof. Also, the ticket inspector has to separately notify and update a ticket issuing system that the e-ticket has been checked and used.
Alternatively, the e-tickets may include a QR/barcode and may be inspected using a ticket reader that has QR/barcode recognition capability and is connected to a server system/database which contains information about the issued tickets. Every time an e-ticket is read by the ticket reader, the ticket reader may be automatically marked as checked and used in the database. However, the ticket reader devices are expensive and need to be connected to a communication network such as the Internet. Therefore, it may not be economical and practically possible to equip all the ticket inspecting sites with the ticket reader devices.
Thus, there is a need for an e-ticket inspection system that eliminates the need for an external ticket reader device and allows the automatic updating of used tickets in the ticket issuing system.